Studies on Microbiological Quality of Khoa Sold in Maharashtra

Author: Ranjan B. Yedatkar, Vasant V. Niras, Anand R. Sarode, Shital S. Deosarkar, Shrikant D. Kalyankar and Chandrapakash D. Khedkar

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Abstract

Milk and milk products are the sources of first class proteins for all the age groups. Khoa is one of the most important traditional Indian dairy products. Owing to its high nutrient and favourable moisture content, khoa can serve as a favourable medium for the growth of a variety of putrefactive microorganisms. The market khoa usually keeps well for about 48 h under usual Indian conditions. But beyond which it deteriorates due to microbial action. These organisms gain access as contaminants from different sources in to the product. The present study was conducted to ascertain the microbial quality of khoa sold in twenty two districts in four zones of Maharashtra during 2021-22. The object is to highlight the main microbial food safety hazards in the dairy chain and to propose appropriate preventive and control measures. Fifteen khoa samples were randomly procured during the three seasons from each of the four zones of the State during 2020-21 from various vendors. The data on microbiological quality was categorized season-wise. The counts of aerobic, coliforms, Staphylococci, yeast and moulds, Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes were estimated. It was observed that the highest counts of the test organisms were observed in all the four zones in the samples collected during February to May and the lowest counts were recorded during October to January. It was observed that the highest average aerobic counts were recorded in Western Maharashtra (49.11×105 cfu/g) during Feb-May 2022; the highest average coliform counts of 61.18 cfu/g were observed in Western Maharashtra; the highest Staphylococci counts of 21.33 cfu/g, yeast and mould counts of 29.69 cfu/g were reported in Vidarbha. It was observed that the pathogenic organisms, viz. Salmonella sp. and Listeria monocytogenes was not observed in any of the samples during the study period. The results on the microbiological quality of khoa sold in Maharashtra reveals that the microbiological quality of the product is well within the standards specified by the FSSR (2020).

Keywords

Khoa, pathogens, safety, microbiology, Maharashtra

Conclusion

On the basis of the data generated during this investigation it can be concluded that the microbial counts of the target eight groups of organisms reported in the khoa samples procured randomly from twenty two districts under four zones of Maharashtra during three seasons are well within the prescribed limits by the Regulatory Authorities. Our scientific findings in this investigation can be attributed to the long term planning and tireless efforts in effective implementing the awareness campaigns about the importance of hygienic practices through academia and industrial and government authorities resulted into significant improvement in the quality of khoa sold in the State of Maharashtra.

References

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How to cite this article

Ranjan B. Yedatkar, Vasant V. Niras, Anand R. Sarode, Shital S. Deosarkar, Shrikant D. Kalyankar and Chandrapakash D. Khedkar (2023). Studies on Microbiological Quality of Khoa Sold in Maharashtra. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(3): 242-246.